Ahead you will see the Cycling Road -- and if you chat up the bloke standing outside you too will face a dilemma -- take the Cycling Road or the Low Road to capture Pokemon. Seeing as how there are a few here that we need, and the fact that we really do want to fill up our Dex, we should take the Low Road, but after we get to town it would be an idea to run the Cycling Road for the Trainer Battles there to help us with leveling our team up after the next Gym Battle -- to prepare for the one that follows it!

Now, let us hit the Low Road and troll the Tall Grass for the Pokemon we need -- come see me when you have them all, right?

OK! Excellent progress mate! You now have all of the Pokemon on this Route that we needed, so now we should head into Mauville proper!

-- The Low Road --

As we move up the road Professor Birch appears, confused that May is not with you. Actually I had no notion that she should have been, but whatever. We swap PokeNav Numbers, and then he asks us to keep an eye out for May and takes off.

A bit up the road and we have a nice Double Battle near the intersection with Route 103 -- after we beat the two trainers here, depending upon how that went you may need to retreat to the Poke Center to heal and save. Either way if you did, head back and continue on the Route.

The Trick House on Route 110

-- The Trick House --

Up ahead you will find the junction and the Trick House. Head inside the Trick House for a brief bit of Poke Fun -- look for the flash as you enter then go to it and use the action button to reveal the hidden trickster.

After you reveal him he invites you to take the door behind the scroll -- doing so will present you with some trainer battle opportunities, so go ahead and do that now! Go through the maze to get the scroll and the Orange Mail, Using the Secret Code from the scroll you open the rear door and enter the Trick Master's flat, where he rewards you with a Rare Candy and the promise to think up a new challenge for next time!

Use the door out to leave and when you are back outside, instead of heading to the east on Route 110, take a brief side trip to the west, and Route 103!

-- Route 103 --

This Route connects Route 110 to Oldale Town, and should be familiar to you - the other side was the second Route you traveled on at the start of the game! The side we are on is separated from that side by water, but once you get the move Surf, this becomes the shortest way between Littleroot and Mauville, and in a way, the shortest way to the rest of the world!

For now we should concentrate upon capturing the Pokemon we need that we can capture, and adding this side to our explored areas! There are some trainers to battle here, and using Cut, head above in the closed off area to grab some berries and a Guard Spec from a Treasure Ball past the berries along the cliff wall, and a Treasure Ball with a PP Up in it as well as some very good XP from battles!

-- Back on Route 110 --

Having completed our brief side-trip it is time to head east and resume our travels on Route 110!

A short way along the path you will find a Treasure Ball with a Dire Hit in it, followed by a Trainer Battle!

Another chance to show May how much we Rock!

As we progress along the northern section of the Route we run into May! Well, the Prof did ask us to keep an eye out for her, but before we can take a breath to tell her about running into the Prof she attacks us!

Trotting out her Level 18 Lonbre, we kick its but for 543 XP, so she follows that with her Level 18 Slugma worth 300 XP, and finally her Level 20 Marshtomp, which is worth 596XP and $1200.

To make up for attacking us and then getting beaten so badly May gives us an Item Finder as our reward -- a Key Item that can be used to locate hidden items on the ground! A most excellent "Sorry I attacked you and you kicked by butt" pressie!

With that, May rides off on her bicycle -- we need to get one of those by the way -- and we are left on Route 110 wondering what we did to deserve getting kicked around and insulted by May?

Be sure to grab the Elixir from the Treasure Ball on the Route, and score some of that awesome XP from the Doubles Battles as well, some Nanab Berries and then stroll right in to town!

-- Mauville --

On the way in be sure to talk to the people here and there, so you learn about TV shows, bikes, and the fact that there is a bike shop here in town. As you enter town you will spot a Treasure Ball behind the wall there -- grab the X-Speed from that, and in town you can have that trainer teach Roll Out to one of your Pokemon if you like.

As you explore the town you will see that there are several Routes branching here, as this is the crossroads of the area. Route 111 to the north, 117 to the west, 118 to the east, and of course, 110 is south.

Before we get down to brass tacks, start looking into the houses and buildings here. Ignore the house west of the Poke Mart for now, we will go there in a bit, as we are not quite ready for that transaction just yet.

Head into the Poke Mart to replace any kit items you may need, Awakenings, Paralyze Heals, that sort of thing, and get some Great Balls to replace the ones that we used to capture Pokemon on Route 110.

Now visit the house east of the Mart to obtain HM06, Rock Smash -- a move we can get some very good use out of! Notice the TV in the corner that is flashing? Go take a look at it and you will see the interview you gave earlier at the Pokemon Fan Club in Slateport! How cool is that? Whenever you see a TV in a house flashing like that it means that there is a program on you can watch -- and you should! It will not always feature you, but still, TV is a goodness.

Our next stop is the house to the north, which turns out to be the bike shop. Rydell, the owner, offers you a free bike, you pick the type, and promises that you can come back and swap it out for the other type any time you like. How very generous of him!

On the tables in the back are instruction books that explain in detail both types of bike, so if you do not know how they work, go have a read there, I will wait for you.

Done? Good! Hit the door mate!

Our next stop is the Poke Center to heal and save. Now would be a good time to open the PC and sort all of the Pokemon we have been catching into their proper boxes as well, so why don't you do that?

When you reach the Gym you find Wally and his uncle -- remember Wally? You helped Wally capture his Pokemon! Anyway he wants to challenge the Gym Leader, but his uncle thinks that may not be a really bright idea.

Wally wants to have a battle with you to prove how far he has developed as a trainer. You know what you have to do, right? Crush him! Wow... I actually felt kind of bad doing that... As they are leaving Wally's uncle invites you to have a visit if you are in town, and you say sure, no worries mate!

South of the Gym is the Casino -- but you need a coin purse to play there -- so go ahead and chat up the people here to learn that you need a coin purse and for one of them to tell you where he thought you might get one. Now head to the first house we saw when we entered town and chat with the woman there. Remember the Harbor mail I told you to buy in Slateport? Right, she will trade us her coin purse for that Harbor Mail!

Now that you have your coin purse, head back to the Casino, and then talk to the bloke in the corner who will give you some coins. The slot machine is all about timing -- you stop the wheels with the A Button, so if you time it right, you can win big!

-- Mauville City Gym --

As you enter the Gym chat up the Greeter to learn that Wattson is the Leader of this Gym, and he favors Electric-Type Pokemon. He suggests using Water-Type here, which is not really bad advice at all!

To get to Wattson you will need to take on his AGL's and throw a few switches... So why don't we do that now?

It looks like the first battle was intended to be a Double, but you do not have to fight it that way -- you can approach the trainer on the bottom from the side and do it as a single instead.

Battle Girl Vivian has a pair of Level 17 Meditite worth 331 XP each and $408.

That wraps up all of the AGL's, so go ahead and run back to the Center to heal and save, and then return to the Gym and face off against Wattson. Now at this point you should have your entire team at Level 25 with a few of your team members closer to Level 30, so Wattson should be no problem for you at all!

Our Battle with the Mauville Gym Leader

-- Gym Leader Wattson --

As you enter the Gym set the switches to allow you to access Wattson in the very back of the Gym, and then perhaps you should save just before you begin to battle, right? I mean, just in case... Because if you have not been following this guide and your levels are significantly lower than what is specified here, this could be a tough battle.

I am warning you right now, all of his Pokemon have the move Shock Wave, and it is really an annoying move. Add to that the programmers tilted the game in Wattson's favor for this battle -- more on that in the after battle notes -- and you are facing a very frustrating battle here. So save first, and be sure to use your best tactics and moves to go for his throat. Do NOT hold back or go for a finesse style of play, as that will just get you killed. Hit him hard, hit him fast, do as much damage as you can in as short a period of time as you can, and you will be way happier, trust me on that.

He starts with his Level 20 Voltorb, which is worth 441XP, following with his Level 20 Electrike worth 445XP, his Level 22 Magneton worth 759XP, and his Level 24 Manectric worth 864XP and $2400.

In addition to the money Wattson gives us the Dynamo Badge and TM34, Shock Wave. With this Badge the speed of our Pokemon is increased, and we can use Rock Smash outside of battle! Good on ya mate! You have your 3rd Badge! Now we just need to get our 4th, which will raise our control level to 50!

After Battle Notes: I have no doubt that you are not very happy right now. You worked hard, you know your Pokemon, and you are a good trainer, but it seemed like everything that could go wrong did go wrong with that battle, right? Well, believe it or not, this is not your fault.

You will notice that Wattson pretty much got all of the breaks, landed excellent blows, maxed out his hits and, when he needed to, had plenty of time to apply potions to his Pokemon, while you seemed to fail a lot more than usual, and when you did hit, your blows did the minimal damage. Not your fault mate, you just ran smack into the first instance of what they call Grief Code.

In simple terms, the people who make video games believe that you will be happier with a game that takes longer to beat. Rather than add extra content to the game, they grief it to slow you down, so you will feel better... about... umm... Something is wrong with that logic. They are confusing tedious with challenging. No gamer likes it when they tip the game in favor of the game in so raw and obvious a way -- I am telling you this so you understand that the frustration you are feeling with this battle was intentional on the part of the programmers. Just so you know.

-- Back on Track --

Having wrapped up matters in the Gym, head to the Center to heal and save and get ready for our next stage in this epic adventure! Oh, and hit the Mart to resupply any kit you used up, right?

i just noticed from your battle with may that you have a metang and a rhyhorn... how did you get them this early in the game? a trade from another game? the only place i know of that one can obtain that pokemon is in stevens house way later in the game

just spent hours training my stupid pokemon only to find that the game is rigged and i can't beat watson.. all my guys are around level 20 and it will take forever to train them if i am to beat him without any ground type pokemon... only problem is.. I CAN'T FIND ANY!!!! tell me is there any geodudes in granite cave? and if not where will i find a ground type to train?!.. pretty stupid that i came this far to find my strategy is useless.. wish i could take back all the xp i've wasted on ralts... what level does that useless lump of flesh evolve?